Florida PSC Continues to Collect Data for Spring Hurricane Workshop

TALLAHASSEE —
Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairman Julie Brown today provided an update on the open PSC docket established to review and analyze electric utility hurricane preparedness and restoration actions during the 2017 hurricane season. The review will explore the potential to further reduce infrastructure damage that results in outages.

The first data requests have been issued to 57 Florida electric utilities, and responses are currently being submitted, compiled, and analyzed. Further requests will be issued to the electric utilities as part of the Commission’s comprehensive review of the causes of damage to electric facilities, vegetation management practices, and communications with customers. The Commission will also be seeking input from other various stakeholders, including local governments, that were impacted by hurricanes and resulting electric power outages. A formal solicitation for comments from stakeholders will be issued by the end of December 2017. A Commission workshop to explore the information gathered through the review process and to discuss potential options to further reduce infrastructure damage that results in outages will be held the first week of April 2018.

“To date, the Commission has received more than 370 customer comments. Customer input is of vital importance in analyzing and understanding the customer perspective during our review process,” said PSC Chairman Brown. “I urge customers to visit our website and provide feedback on how long they had to wait before their power was restored and how well their utility kept them informed throughout the 2017 storm season.”